Ranchi, July 17: Expressing concern over the low participation of urban voters in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Jharkhand Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) K. Ravi Kumar has announced that special SIR camps will be organised at all urban polling stations on July 18 and July 20 to facilitate the submission of enumeration forms.
The initiative aims to improve participation among urban voters, particularly the youth, where the pace of the electoral roll revision has lagged significantly behind rural areas.
“The apathy among urban voters towards SIR is a matter of concern,” the CEO said, adding that “the low participation of young urban voters is a major challenge for the SIR campaign.”
He said urban voters who have not yet received or submitted their SIR enumeration forms can visit the designated camps to collect, fill and submit the forms on the spot. However, voters who have already submitted their forms to Booth Level Officers (BLOs) or applied online need not visit the camps.
According to the CEO, migration, higher education, employment-related movement and difficulty in contacting BLOs during door-to-door verification have emerged as the primary reasons behind the weak response from urban voters.
Highlighting the progress of the statewide exercise, Kumar said BLOs have distributed enumeration forms to 96.84 per cent of voters through door-to-door visits, while digitisation of 51.95 per cent of the submitted forms has already been completed.
In Ranchi district, enumeration forms have been distributed to 22,73,538 of the total 26,74,681 voters, covering nearly 85 per cent of the electorate. Digitisation of 10,15,294 forms, accounting for 37.96 per cent, has also been completed.
The CEO noted a clear disparity between rural and urban constituencies. Rural Assembly segments have recorded impressive coverage, with Silli (98.73%), Tamar (98.61%), Khijri (98.15%) and Mandar (95.27%) nearing complete distribution of enumeration forms.
In contrast, urban constituencies continue to trail, with coverage standing at 73.49 per cent in Ranchi, 73.59 per cent in Hatia and 79.99 per cent in Kanke. Digitisation has also remained sluggish in urban areas, with only 22.26 per cent of forms uploaded in Ranchi Assembly constituency and 27.68 per cent in Hatia.
“There is a 20 to 30 per cent gap in the progress of the SIR exercise between urban and rural areas,” Kumar observed, urging eligible urban voters to utilise the special camps and complete the enumeration process within the stipulated time.
The Election Department expects the two-day special drive to significantly improve urban participation and accelerate the completion of the electoral roll revision exercise across Jharkhand.
